712 



DEAFNESS 



DEAN 



on the education of Deaf-mutes by T. ArnoM (1872) and 

 his Method (1881); W. R. Scott, The Deaf and Dumb 

 (1870); J. A. Seiss, The Children of Silence (Phila. 1888); 

 French books byOrdinaire (1836), Dubranle (1884), Dupont 

 (1884), Goguillot (1889), Denis (1886), and Drouot (1896); 

 and German books by Hill (1867), Schdttle (1874), Hart- 

 mann (1880), Walther (1882 and 1895), Schmaltz (1884), 

 Gude ( 1880 >, Heidsiek ( 1889 ), Hedinger ( 1884 ), Vatter 

 (1892), Mygind (trans. 1894), and Bezold (1896). ' 



DEAF AND DUMB, in Law. The Roman law 

 held deaf and dumb persons to be incapable of con- 

 sent, and consequently unable to enter into a legal 

 obligation or contract. Both in England and Scot- 

 land they may make contracts or wills if they have 

 the use of reason and understand the nature of their 

 undertaking, and express their consent intelligibly. 

 Although the presumption of law is that a deaf and 

 dumb person is in the same state as an idiot, and 

 incapable of any understanding, sucli a one may be 

 subjected to a criminal trial on proof that he knows 

 right from wrong. And, if he understands the 

 nature of an oath, and is possessed of intelligence, 

 he may give evidence as a witness by signs through 

 an interpreter or by writing. It is always a good 

 objection to a juryman that he is deaf and dumb. 



In the United States, in general, the legal pre- 

 sumption of the common law as to the mental 

 incapacity of the deaf and dumb does not exist. 

 They are presumed to be capable of comprehending 

 the nature of crime, the nature and obligation of an 

 oath, and of making any contract ; hence may be 

 indicted, tried, and punished for crime, and may 

 testify as witnesses. The federal courts have no 

 peculiar jurisdiction as to persons deaf and dumb, 

 but the act of congress prescribing punishment to 

 be inflicted upon ' every person ' who is guilty of 

 certain acts prohibited, includes every person pos- 

 sessed of sufficient mental capacity for criminal 

 responsibility, although they may be deaf and 

 dumb. The federal courts are governed by the 

 practice of the states in which the cause is pending 

 as to the competency of a deaf and dumb person as 

 a witness, and this competency will be determined 

 in either state or federal court by the judge before 

 whom the cause is pending, upon examination 

 of the individual, and upon testimony of those 

 acquainted with the party. A deaf and dumb per- 

 son is legally incapacitated to serve as a juror, or 

 for service in the army and navy, but in other 

 respects has the rights of citizenship. 



Deafness. See DISEASES OF THE EAR, IV. 158. 



Deak, FRANCIS, Hungarian politician, was born 

 in 1803 at Kehida, in the district of Szalad, where, 

 after a course of legal study at Raab, he practised 

 as an advocate, until returned as its representative 

 to the national diet in 1832. Here he soon took 

 his place as leader of the liberal opposition, and by 

 his firm and moderate policy effected reconciliations 

 between Hungary and the Austrian emperor as her 

 king temporarily in 1840, and more permanently 

 in 1867. After the revolution of March 1848 he 

 became Minister of Justice in the cabinet of Count 

 Batthyanyi, and made every effort to ward off the 

 inevitable war. On Kossuth's coming into power 

 (September 1848), Dedk resigned his portfolio, and 

 after the unsuccessful attempt next year at nego- 

 tiation, withdrew from public affairs, and retired 

 to his estate. He refused to return to public life 

 till 1860, when a constitution was granted to his 

 country. 



Returned by Pesth to the diet in 1861, he again 

 became the leader of the moderate party, while the 

 extreme party collected round Count Teleki. The 

 death of the latter ( 8th May ) destroyed the only in- 

 fluence which could counterbalance that of Deak ; 

 and the diet appointed him to draw up the address 

 to the emperor demanding the constitution of 1848, 



a Hungarian ministry resident in Pesth, the return, 

 without restriction, of the exiles, and the restitu- 

 tion of their property. The emperor answered it 

 by a hostile rescript, against which Deak protested 

 strongly. Out ot the humiliation of Austria in 

 1866 came the triumph of Deak's policy. He asked 

 nothing more than before, and thus his wise and 

 statesmanlike moderation effected a satisfactory 

 constitutional relation between Austria and Hun- 

 gary in the dual system of monarchy. Deak's 

 party was all-powerful, but he lived to see the rise 

 of a more advanced party under the leadership of 

 Tisza. He died at Buda-Pesth, January 29, 1876. 

 See Memoir, with preface by Grant-Duff ( 1880). 



Deal, a municipal borough and sea-bathing place, 

 in the east of Kent, on a bold open beach, near 

 the south extremity of the Downs, between North 

 and South Foreland, 89 miles by rail from London, 

 and 6 miles SE. of Sandwich, till 1885 it was part 

 of the parliamentary borough of Sandwich. A 

 fine anchorage extends 7 or 8 miles between Deal 

 and the Goodwin Sands. Deal has mainly arisen 

 to supply the wants of the numerous vessels which 

 are often detained by the winds in the Downs. The 

 chief branches of industry are connected with mari- 

 time pursuits, boat-building, sail-making, piloting 

 or hovelling, victualling and naval stores. The pro- 

 sperity of the place now largely depends on its sea- 

 bathing, on the military depdt at W aimer (2 miles 

 S. of Deal), and on the snipping in the Downs. 

 The handsome iron promenade pier was erected in 

 1864. Pop. ( 1851 ) 7067 ; ( 1891 ) 8898. It has been 

 one of the Cinque Ports (q.v.) since the 13th cen- 

 tury. Of the three castles built by Henry VIII. in 

 1539, Deal Castle is the residence of its ' captain ; ' 

 Sandown Castle (where Colonel Hutchinson died) 

 to the north, has been blown up (1880-95) as 

 dangerous through the encroachment of the sea ; 

 and to the south, W aimer Castle (q.v.) is now the 

 residence of the Warden of the Cinque Ports. See 

 H. S. Chapman, Deal Past and Present (1891). 

 Some maintain that it was near Deal that Julius 

 Caesar landed in 55 B.C. The Deal boatmen are, 

 like some of the other boatmen on that coast, 

 locally known as ' hovellers.' They are noted for 

 giving assistance to ships in distress, and were 

 formerly much employed in carrying off provisions 

 to outward-bound vessels, and in bringing ashore 

 mail-bags requiring to be forwarded by express. 



Dealfish (Trackypterus), a genus of deep-sea 

 bony rishes, in the Ribbon-fish (q.v.) sub-order of 

 Acanthopteri. As the name suggests, the elongated 

 body is laterally compressed, and with the excep- 

 tion of a small separate anterior portion, the dorsal 

 fin is continuous along the back. The tail fin is 

 peculiar in being turned sharply upwards. The 

 pectoral fins are well developed. The skeleton is 

 very brittle. Some eight species are known, on 

 European coasts and from the west of South 

 America. They rarely come to the surface. One 

 form ( T. arcticus or bogmarus, the vaagmaer of 

 Icelanders and Norwegians) is occasionally found 

 on North British coasts. It is a large fish, 4 to 6 

 feet in length, and of a silvery colour. The dorsal 

 and caudal fins are red. A smaller species ( T. 

 tcenia) occurs along with others in the Mediter- 

 ranean. 



Dean. The word clean, from the Latin decam/s, 

 properly means an officer over ten subordinates, the 

 etymon being decem, ' ten. ' It is first found as a mili- 

 tary grade, being mentioned by Vegetius in the 4th 

 century as an old but then disused term (De Re 

 Milit. ii. 8). Somewhat later it appears, still in 

 the 4th century, as a title of certain minor officers 

 in the imperial household (St Ambrose, Epist. i. 

 20; St Chrysostom, Horn. 13, in Heb. vii.). With 

 the rise and organisation of monachism, the name 



